Mechanical instability of a diaphragm in microelectromechanical microphones can be detrimental to device performance and functionality. In a microelectromechanical microphone having a large diaphragm, stress and/or large span of displacement vectors responsive to an acoustic wave can cause the diaphragm to collapse or otherwise deform either towards or away from a backplate. Therefore, capacitive signals representative of the acoustic wave can be distorted, diminishing fidelity of the microelectromechanical microphone or otherwise causing artifacts in the sensing of the acoustic wave.